Iridium Browser is not available on Trisquel 8.0 repository. It is a libre alternative to Google Chrome as published on FSF Directory (at least up to now 12 January 2018). You may want this as you need the web development features of Chrome but you don't want to use the Parabola-blacklisted Chromium Browser. The latest version now is 2018.11.71.1 based on Chromium 71 source code. If you want to install it on Trisquel 8.0, as long as your computer is 64-bit, you can follow instructions below. Enjoy!

The first command below is enough. But if you really want to download the source code of Iridium Browser, run the second command too.$ echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://downloads.iridiumbrowser.de/deb/ stable main" | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/iridium-browser.list

Please welcome Riot/Matrix the new internet communication system. It's a software/service similar to Telegram and WhatsApp, but without phone number registration and with wonderful connection to other services feature. The Riot software we use to communicate is available gratis for web browser, GNU/Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. The Matrix service behind the scene is the real communication protocol which is secure and universal (open, decentralized, federated, bridged). Riot/Matrix offers you end-to-end encryption as well as anonymity, federated servers, with private chats as well as group chats, and support to bots creation, and ability to read and write other networks namely Twitter, Discord, Skype, Gitter, IRC, and email and more. The naming I use here "Riot/Matrix" is an analogue to "GNU/Linux" where Riot is the software and Matrix is the service to make everything easier to understand. I will try to introduce you Riot/Matrix in a friendly manner with as little as possible saying technical things. Okay, let's dive into Riot/Matrix!

All Riot applications are libre software (under Apache License) and you can download them gratis. Account registration is unlimited. The Matrix service is provided by the official Matrix.org and it's also gratis.

2. Download RiotJust like Telegram or WhatsApp, Riot software is available in:

3. Chatting FeaturesRiot/Matrix as a combination offers you exact features like what you found in Telegram or WhatsApp but with more excellent additions:

Gratis account, no phone number required(*)

Access from any device seamlessly (desktop, mobile, web)

Text chat, voice and video call, unlimited

Notifications, with granular settings

End-to-end encryption

Anonymity by default(*)

Full history and full search in all groups for all members (history saved on server side)(**)

Create unlimited groups, public or private, with full administration and privacy controls

Unlimited group members and history(**)

Search worldwide groups without any account(*)

Upload files and pictures and share them (files are stored on server side(***))

Mentions people's names, and permanent link to every public message

Invite links (like in Telegram)

Bots (like in Telegram)

Bridges(*), you can read and write to other Networks from within a Matrix group (currently available bridges for Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, email, IRC, Gitter, and more)

Integration(*), you can combine your group chat with Travis CI, GitHub, Etherpad, Google Calendar, or such online services.

Things marked (*) are special features only Matrix has. Things marked (**) are unavailable in Slack. Things marked (***) are unavailable in WhatsApp.

(Other networks that are supported by Matrix Network, picture screenshoted from https://matrix.org/docs/projects/bridges)4. Let's Try Chatting!You can start from Riot Web. It's very similar to Telegram Web or WhatsApp Web. The user interface is even very close. Don't worry, Riot itself firstly popular because of this web chat.

Register new account

Chat

Upload files and pictures

Voice and video calls

Delete and edit messages

Forward and share messages

Join more groups

Register new account:Go to https://riot.im/app and click Register. You will get username and password as identifier.

Login:After successfully registered, go to https://riot.im/app and login with your username and password.

Chat:Welcome to Riot/Matrix! For the first time you will see Riot-bot chats with you in a private group. You can try everything here.

(Riot Web joined to a chatroom)Upload:You can upload files, documents, pictures, audios, videos, and many more. Click the folded paper icon, number two from left.

Voice and video calls:Click the phone or camera logo to start. Your browser will notify you about mic or cam activation.

Delete message:Click the ellipsis (...) button and select Remove.

Forward or share message:Click the ellipsis (...) button and select Forward and then select target group.

Note that the URL of original Matrix chatrooms (not IRC's, not Slack's, not anything's else) is clear in format #chatroom:server.domain like in example #matrix:matrix.org meaning the chatroom is "#matrix" and the server is "matrix.org". If you create new chatroom, your address will also look like that.

(Riot Web joined to #matrix:matrix.org chatroom)6. Let's Join IRC Chatrooms from Matrix!IRC and Matrix are two separate networks. But with Riot/Matrix, you can join IRC servers and chatrooms, and search and see and read-write into IRC chatrooms. Imagine you use Telegram but you can search and join WhatsApp groups and vice versa. Amazing, no? Then here are some IRC channels from the most famous Freenode server:

Please notice the "#freenode_" code right before the #channel name. That indicates the URL is for IRC (and particularly, Freenode IRC). That differs the URL from the original chatroom sof Matrix: without that addition.

(Riot Web joined to #kde IRC chatroom from Freenode server)7. Let's Join Other Networks from Matrix!Telegram and Matrix are clearly two separate networks. Same thing goes with Slack, WhatsApp, Skype, Discord, Gitter, and others. We better call them "non-Matrix groups". The secret is, Matrix can connect you to those non-Matrix groups! The Matrix "bridge" makes this works for us: a Telegram group could be "bridged" to a Matrix group so everybody in any of both groups can read-write each others. What you post in one group will be seen by everybody in the bridged group. What needed is the admin of respective group to (1) create a Matrix group (2) add some bot into both Matrix and non-Matrix groups. If you wish you could ask your Slack group admin to create a new Matrix group and bridge Slack into Matrix. That's it! To make it easier to understand, you can join examples of Matrix groups that are "bridged" to non-Matrix groups outside.

9. Real World PurposesHere's some real life problems you may encounter and you can solve it easily now thanks to Riot/Matrix.

Employee case: your company uses Slack to collaborate but you don't want to use Slack. Riot/Matrix is the solution: just bridge and continue your job.

Project manager case: your team is too diverse that one member uses Slack, one uses IRC, one uses Gitter, one uses Telegram, one uses WhatsApp, and the last one uses Jitsi. Riot/Matrix is the solution: just create a Matrix room with those integration.

Teacher case: you want to create online teaching that is simple and easy for everybody but it's flexible for you. You want an universal chatroom with calendar and unlimited student tasks upload. In short, you want an Edmodo alternative. Again, Riot/Matrix is your solution: simply add Calendar widget to group and invite all your students to join.

IRC user case: you want to save all your chats on server side without having IRC bouncer. Plus, you want prettier user interface than common IRC clients have. The solution is clearly Riot/Matrix.

A Telegram user case: actually it's for myself as I am teaching GNU/Linux via Telegram. I've been satisfied Telegram user since the very beginning but how if someday I need to replace it? What is the best replacement which is still libre- and privacy-respecting? My answer is Riot/Matrix.

And still there would be many, many other ideas.

10. A Brief About MatrixMatrix is a protocol which unites different communication networks into one.

That's why it's called Matrix: because it's decentralized, federated, and bridged to be used by everybody. In other words, Matrix is like email. Please distinguish between Matrix and Riot here as Matrix is the protocol and Riot is the software.

Matrix is "decentralized" in sense that no central company holds the whole connections and data --without other choices-- from the users.

Related to internal Matrix networks, there are servers, and in them there are chatrooms. The secret is, every of different servers could connect ("federated") to other servers around the world. Users from one server could connect to users from another server. Think about email, you can always send @gmail.com mail to @hotmail.com user and vice versa, despite the servers and providers are different. Compare this to non-federated one while, for example, Twitter user can never send message to Facebook user and vice versa.

Related to external networks, Matrix is "bridged", so users from Matrix could communicate (see, join, read, write) to other networks, among them are Telegram and Facebook.

Matrix is an "open" protocol. Unlike Microsoft Skype, this protocol is free (libre) and gratis (without paying) for everybody to re-implement into the form of software. In this manner, it means everybody could create their own "Riot" software if they wish and won't be banned and never need to reverse engineer Matrix protocol.

11. Clients other than RiotYes, there are other combination such as Nheko/Matrix, Fractal/Matrix, NaChat/Matrix, and on and on. The protocol is same, Matrix, but the programs may be different, namely Nheko, Fractal, and NaChat, and others. You may think of these like Cutegram as alternative software to Telegram desktop. Out of these, you better stick with the original official recommendation Riot/Matrix. But in case you are curious, okay, let's see.

Fractal: official Matrix desktop client from GNOME. It's actively developed and can be viewed as good alternative to Riot Desktop for GNU/Linux users.

12. Advanced FeaturesFar above you read "Chatting Features" section mentioned nothing about things like "you can built your own Riot/Matrix home server". Yes, now this section is for system administrators who want to know about the real difference of Matrix compared to silos like WhatsApp or Slack.

15. Donate to RiotThere is no donation information opened on Riot.im as well as Vector.im websites. There is job vacancies, though, https://new-vector.workable.com, for you who are capable in developing Riot/Matrix. If you join them you could help the whole community.16. My Personal ThoughtsIt has been a long time since my first encounter to my favorite article about privacy/security Why privacy is more than crypto on FSF Europe website. I kept looking for libre- and privacy-oriented solution so then I found out Tox, Wire, and GNU Ring (now GNU Jami), after a long time being a satisfied Telegram user. I found Riot/Matrix for the first time at PRISM-Break Wiki and PrivacyTools.io. I got very nice stream of information about it from Trisquel GNU/Linux Forum and anything from libre distros communities. I think Matrix is what I am looking for. I really admire the wise idea: instead of making new thing, Matrix joins existed things. It tends to solve problems without creating new problem. I can recommend Matrix happily to everybody and I can say that it does not have problems they find on their existing network. Thank you all Riot and Matrix developers! Happy chatting for you all!17. Reasons to Migrate to Riot/MatrixYou may want to read more reasons to switch to Riot/Matrix from your current ones. These links are good as starting point.

After examples of productive activities, I think it's time to know the ways to install more software on Trisquel GNU/Linux. Officially there is one way: run you Synaptic Package Manager and get software with it. This way gets you software from official Trisquel repository. That is the normal way we get more software on Trisquel. I will discuss how to do it first using Synaptic with internet access and later with Terminal without internet access. I consider it's enough to just download everything from official repository without third-party ones as it's guaranteed to be 100% free software. I hope this will help you a lot and make you days using Trisquel much more easier. Enjoy!

2. Ways to get softwareIn general, yes, you have one official way to do it just like what you have on Windows and macOS. Please note that this way requires internet access on your running Trisquel computer. But in particular, actually there are more ways to get more software on Trisquel.

1) Install software from official repository. This is the one official way: particularly, this means you download binary code package in .deb format using either Synaptic or APT package manager into your Trisquel system. This needs direct internet access.

2) Compile a software from the source code. It's very common on Slackware or Gentoo (alternatively, Dragora or GuixSD in 100% free distros group). Installing software from source is natural in the free software community, but unfortunately it's extremely difficult for individual end-user, and fortunately Trisquel Developers have already compiled them all for us, so this should not be your first option. However, Trisquel official repository provides source code packages of all software distributed.

3) Install software from non-official repository. It's very common on Ubuntu as well as Arch, with third-party repositories named "PPA" and "AUR", respectively. The secret is, Trisquel 8.0 is compatible with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, so PPAs for 16.04 are basically installable on 8.0. According to Trisquel officials, this is not official and not recommended. This requires direct internet access.

4) Download a binary code package (.deb) and install manually with GDebi. This one is also official way, and it's closer to Windows way, but it's more complicated for individual user because of "dependencies". You can only do this easily if the package is single (one file) without other packages ("dependencies"); otherwise, installing this way is for advanced user only. Installing the downloaded package does not need internet access.

5) Download software in AppImage format (.appimage) and click to run it. For most GNU/Linux users, this is a new thing: AppImage is similar to EXE or DMG so you just download the file with .appimage extension and give it permission and click so it runs. Very similar to "Portable Apps" for Windows if you know. This is the easiest way to get software but this is not official and not recommended by Trisquel. Running AppImage does not need internet access.

It's enough for a starter knowing only those five. In this article, you will learn the first one only. You won't need to waste your time exploring more new (and perhaps confusing) things like Snappy, Flatpak, or even Docker.

3. What software are available?See table below. These are free software available on Trisquel repository I've checked using Synaptic. I compare them to the popular nonfree software counterparts from Windows. Please take a note that "free" and "nonfree" here are not "gratis"/"paid" but instead "full-rights"/"restricted-rights" for user. You can learn more here.

1) First, click Reload button. Synaptic will download information about the repository server. This does not install nor upgrade any program. Once completely finished, you don't need to do Reload anymore. Internet access is required for this.

(Download package information )2) Second, type software name on the search box. For example, inkscape. Synaptic will automatically find it for you. This does not need internet access anymore as the information has been downloaded by Reload.

3) To install, right-click the software name > Mark for Installation > click Apply on the toolbar > click OK once > click OK once again. Synaptic will download the software along with required other software (if any) and install them automatically for you.

4) Once installed, the software inkscape is present on your start menu. Congratulations!

5. Example installing Qt SDKThis is a bonus example to install Qt SDK, that is, a full software development kit to so you can create cross-platform GUI applications. We will use the editor Qt Creator, use the programming language C++, with the library Qt Framework, and the compiler GNU C++ Compiler. Follow instructions below to install it completed with excellent code examples.

1) Find the software name qtcreator

2) See the information available there: the version available is 3.5, it's not (blank column) qtcreator software installed currently, and the description says "the IDE for Qt" so it's the correct thing

(From left to right: blank box=it's ready to be installed, Package column=the name, Installed version column=it's not already installed, Latest version column=software version available, Description=short identifier to the program)Also find the software qt5-doc, qt5-default and qtbase5-examples and qtbase5-doc-html so you get full compiler support and a lot of source code examples. See reference here.

3) Right-click the name > Mark for installation > OK > repeat for other names so all of them marked for installation > finally click Apply > OK > let the installation goes.

4) Find the program Qt Creator on your start menu. Run it.

5) You can start coding by examples available built-in Qt Creator under Examples section. See, wonderful!

(Qt Creator integrated development environment window showing built-in code examples ready to use)6. Installing software without internet access There are many, many ways to do it. The easiest one everybody could imagine is by copying downloaded packages done above from one Trisquel 8.0 computer to another Trisquel 8.0 computer. So, other computer may have same set of software without re-downloading from the internet --in other words, without internet access--. You just need to distribute the files using USB stick or such storage media. This kind of trick will work very well on school labs' and offices' computers which have identical OSes but do not have good internet access. Here's how to do:

1) Finish all exercises above.

2) Go to /var/cahe/apt/archives/. You see many, many software packages in .deb format here. They are all software you have downloaded from exercise above.

(The directory where all downloaded packages stored by Synaptic)3) Copy all files in .deb format into your USB stick. You better save them in a new folder named 'trisquel-8.0-amd64' if your system is 64-bit, or 'trisquel-8.0-i386' if your system is 32-bit. It should looks like below. I assume your computer and your other computers are all 64-bit here.

(Saved packages in the USB stick)4) Go to other Trisquel 8.0 computer. Copy the files into this computer. You better copy and paste the 'trisquel-8.0-amd64' folder into the Downloads folder.

5) Enter the folder 'trisquel-8.0-amd64' so you see all the .deb files.

6) Click menu bar File > Open in Terminal > a Terminal Emulator appears > make sure the address shown is the same as shown in the File Manager.

7) Type the command line to install them all:$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb8) Find all your software present on the start menu.

9) Repeat the same process for other Trisquel 8.0 computers. Congratulations!

End WordsThat's all. As a friendly manual, I consider it's important to make this as short as possible and in the same time as useful as possible as well. In the long term, you will eventually see how helpful is learning by Synaptic first, as it helps you understand in easier manner before you actually go to command line (apt-get). I hope this will really, really make your life with Trisquel easier. From this point you can learn more about Trisquel package management on Trisquel Wiki. For the next chance, I will discuss more about upgrading individual software package as well as upgrading the whole system. Enjoy!

If you want to redistribute (or, sell) GNU/Linux distros in CD or USB media, it's safe to include it with source code CDs. The problem is, some very popular GNU/Linux distros like Manjaro or even PureOS does not provide source code ISO (at least for now), so you can not easily download the source ISO to burn them to CD (you should do it manually from source repositories). In order you want to know which popular distros with source code ISO CD available, I compile this list for you. Among them are Trisquel, Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu, and KDE Neon. I include here their respective download links and some additional information.

Special note: Official Flavors (K/X/Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE/Budgie/Studio/Kylin) do not provide their respective source code ISOs and they do not point out clearly where to obtain; but all are included in one place within all source code ISOs above per release version. You can check, for example, source code of Kubuntu 18.04 is available on Source DVD2 of 18.04 along with Ubuntu MATE's source code and others'.

List of Distros Without Source Code ISOHere's my compilation of distros I found out with no source CDs aside from binary CDs available. In other words, you can download binary ISO of them, but you cannot download the source ISO corresponding every release. Technically, you should create your own "source CD" by manually downloading the source packages from their respective source repositories. Please give me information if you know otherwise so I can revise these. I would be very glad if there is more distro to provide source code ISO. Thank you!

Did you use copy date/time to clipboard feature on KDE 4? I did that a lot and I loved that. That was one thing I missed since the inception of KDE 5. But, fortunately, and personally shockingly, I met this again starting from my updated KDE 5.13.5. It made me very happy and shocked in the same time when I ran latest Plasma 5.14.4 few days ago: "amazing, since when did this feature come back?" like that. When I went back to my Plasma 5.13.5, it's there too, and finally I obtained information that it's available again since Plasma 5.13.0 from April 2018. So let's see how is it now. Enjoy!

But I found out on my current system that starting from my updated Plasma 5.13.5, this feature exists. You may see last section below that actually this was added again since 5.13.0 at 11 April 2018. Thank you all KDE developers!

(Right-click digital clock > Copy to clipboard > choose time format) (Digital clock widget placed on desktop area also has this feature)For what is it?All purposes which need time information (date/clock). You can easily copy and paste current date into your text editor or web browser, suppose you are a writer or an office employee. For example, me, I wrote many LaTeX documents as a hobby and I put every date from this KDE feature. Now, I'm teaching online so I can paste current date & time quickly to my announcements. And many other possibilities you can create your own.

(Copying date/time information with my locale (Indonesia) to Writer)What is KDE Plasma?If you use GNU/Linux computer operating system, for example, Kubuntu or openSUSE, you will find your desktop is named "Plasma". Yes, the desktop is actually software and it developed by "KDE" community. The current generation is Plasma 5, with latest version 5.14.4.

At the last moment I wrote the WTDAI, I found out Compton settings to be very very interesting. In other words, we can make our old computer runs beautiful desktop OS featuring translucent window and drop shadows (similar to macOS). As it would be too complicated to explain on a simple WTDAI, I make a separate tutorial here starting with finding out the config, enabling it, and making the effects right for you. This tutorial is based on Lubuntu 18.10 and should be effective for the next releases and other LXQt distros as well. Enjoy!

Result FirstHere's screenshots of the Lubuntu LXQt with Compton enabled. You can make your desktop to look like this.

(Start menu with drop shadow)(Right-click menu with drop shadows)(Translucent title bar of a window)(Every window got its own drop shadow)Wait, what's Compton?To understand the concept, a user needs to know "window manager" and "compositor". In a graphical desktop, there is an unseen component responsible for drawing all window borders, namely "window manager" ("WM"). Openbox is an example of a WM. If you terminate a WM, you will find your screen rather disappointing, i.e. no border on window and you cannot move/close/minimize any. A compositor is an additional component responsible for drawing effects namely drop shadow, translucency, and animation on every window. If you terminate it, you still have normal windows, but without effects anymore. Compton is an example of a compositor. On GNU-like operating systems, it's very very common for users to combine WM and compositor. And this is what you will see in this artice.

Where's the config?It's under two places:

Start menu > LXQt Settings > Window Effects

Start menu > LXQt Settings > Session Settings > Basic Setting

Enabling and DisablingOn Lubuntu, it's very easy:

Go to Session Settings: select Compton and press Start. See if it says "Running".

To disable, just go there again and select and press Stop. See if the word "Running" is not there anymore.

(This is where you control your compositor running)

Tweaking Shadow and Translucency These simple configurations are enough for starting. The Window Effects has 4 distinct settings:

Opacity: give values for menus="1.00", for inactive and active windows="1.0", for titlebars and borders="0.70"

Fade: disable "Fade windows"

Other: let it be default "X Render"

Press OK when finished configuring.

See also gif animation below. You can play the values as you wish later. Have a nice experiment!

(Gif animation: showing configurations of the four tabs) Tweaking Terminal TransparencyThis additional tweak will make your desktop perfect. Open your terminal and go to menu bar File > Preferences: Appearance > set value of Terminal Transparency="50%". The transparency can only work if Compton is enabled. It will look like this.

(Translucent terminal)Advanced ConfigurationExperinced users may prefer configuring Compton using its config file. You can find it on ~/.config/compton.conf. Take references from Arch wiki and of course Compton wiki itself.

(File manager with the directory, and text editor with the configuration text)End WordsThat's all. I hope you get a smooth, beautiful, and tear-free desktop now with Lubuntu LXQt on your old computers. Surely now 32-bit computers can be revived with modern look. Happy reviving, happy working!

Following installation guide and review, this is the traditional compilation of suggestions after having a fresh Lubuntu 18.10 --the first LXQt edition--. You will notice the first thing here is about network manager as this new edition lacks nice feature on that. Five more things are about some nice tweakings in the file manager and the user interface. As generally Lubuntu is for old computers, you will be happy to have legacy Microsoft Windows theme, won't you? Go ahead, tweak once and use forever!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.1. Get A Better Network ManagerWicd is a very good alternative to the default one. $ sudo apt-get install wicd(Wicd network manager showing access points from a public hotspot place)2. Setup File SortingI like detailed list view. I hope you'll like it too. To change file sorting on your file manager:

(Lubuntu with KDE Plasma appearance) (Lubuntu with Windows 98 appearance)(Lubuntu with Unity appearance)4. Alternative Image ViewerI crop pictures a lot, really a lot. Default image viewer here does not have crop feature. I recommend you to install GNOME Shotwell instead. It's the long time image viewer of Ubuntu original. More than it, you can re-associate all pictures (PNG and JPEG) to be opened in Shotwell instead by right-click > Properties > switch the Open with field into "Shotwell" > OK.

$ sudo apt-get install shotwell(Shotwell image viewer with crop feature) (Associating PNG images with Shotwell instead of the default one)5. Edit Repository SourcesUp to 18.04, Lubuntu uses GNOME Software as the app store. But starting from 18.10 Lubuntu uses Discover, a different app store. Accompanying it, Lubuntu also replaced Synaptic with Muon Package Manager. You need to explore once again with them. But where is your repository settings on Discover?

(SLAX GNU/Linux, one among many up to date 32-bit distros in 2018)Many of us still have healthy old PCs and laptops. Being "old" means 32-bit, so if you want to run GNU/Linux there you need 32-bit version of GNU/Linux. The problem we're facing is we find many distros have removed their 32-bit versions. This means we need to find distros which are still supporting 32-bit. And this article provides you a compilation of those. You will find here Flavors of Ubuntu, Fedora Spins, Debian Live, and more and more are keeping 32-bit versions. You can choose one among them to empower your old computer with latest version of free software with long duration of support. I mentioned here information such as latest release, support lifespan, editions as well as what distros which are not supporting 32-bit anymore so you can compare and decide which one suitable the most for you. Go ahead, happy downloading, happy working!

Popular Distros Which are Not 32 AnymoreThe i386 architecture (we call it 32-bit) is too old today similar to floppy disk ("diskette") considered old at its time. So, no wonder both side of computer manufacturers and GNU/Linux projects do not produce them anymore. In fact, many popular distros have abandoned 32-bit support. Among them are:

Ubuntu original[1]

Kubuntu[2]

Ubuntu Studio[3]

Ubuntu Budgie[3]

Ubuntu MATE[4]

KDE neon

elementary OS

openSUSE (Leap only)

deepin

Manjaro, Chakra, KaOS, Antergos

PCLinuxOS

CentOS

Sabayon

PureOS

Solus

Netrunner

Tails

Of course, I don't mention here non-desktop distros such as Arch-family and Dragora-like. You can make Arch a desktop distro indeed, but it needs installation and special configuration further so this example does not count as desktop distro.

Footnote:[1] Since 17.04 (2017). This means 17.04 onwards are 64-bit only.[2] Since 18.10 (2018). This means 18.04 LTS and 16.04 LTS are still supporting 32-bit.[3] Since 18.10.[4] Since 18.10.

Fedora Spins are similar to "Ubuntu Flavors" or "Debian Live" on their respective terms: they are desktop environment based variants which are LiveCD. All Fedora Spins come preinstalled with Firefox and LibreOffice.

4. MintThe favorite of many, Mint is a long-standing desktop oriented distro derived from Ubuntu. Mint existed before Manjaro, has been already popular before Mageia, had ever been ranked #1 on Distrowatch (up to now it's still among the top 5), and often recommended by people around us if we want first experience to GNU/Linux. If you think Ubuntu is user-friendly, Mint is considerably more friendly, crafted solely for desktop and even the team developed its own desktop environment, Cinnamon. All editions of Mint has user interface that resembles Microsoft Windows making them very suitable for you switching from that proprietary operating system. It comes preinstalled with Firefox and LibreOffice. Mint is an incredibly active community both in their blog and in their forum.

5. TrisquelPersonally my favorite one, Trisquel is a complete desktop OS and a 100% free software one. If you would love to choose one among 8 of them today, for beginner, I believe you'd choose Trisquel instead. It uses Linux-libre kernel instead of Linux vanilla one. Comes preinstalled with Abrowser and LibreOffice.

8. openSUSE KryptonYou can consider Krypton as a replacement to Manjaro in rolling basis as it keep 32-bit support while Manjaro abandoned it. Krypton is based on openSUSE rolling release named Tumbleweed. It's the advantage of it over Argon which only supports 64-bit. Krypton uses zypper package manager and the great YaST as its control panel. Repository for Krypton is the one original from openSUSE plus special KDE repositories.

That's SLAX official motto. It was originally a Slackware derivative, but is now based on Debian instead. It's a hobby project by Tomas Matejicek. SLAX is a small, portable, USB-stick desktop operating system which you can run on one computer to another one without installation. It's only 200MB in size. It includes Chromium web browser, PCManFM, XTerm, and more by default. Its package manager is apt. If you're able to run Ubuntu then you will be able to run SLAX this way. However, it does not have any bug tracker nor public coding place nor wiki, but its blog is very lovely with a lot of users' comments.

10. SalixSalix is a Slackware-based lightweight XFCE distro. It's fully compatible with Slackware so Salix users can use Slackware packages and vice versa. Salix is compatible to Slackbuilds and AlienBOB repositories. Salix features slapt-get as its package manager by default (not slackpkg, nor pkgtool). It provides both InstallOnly and LiveDVD versions. Just like Slackware, Salix does not use systemd.

11. PorteusPorteus is a Slackware-based multiple-desktop lightweight distro that is portable. It's designed to be run from a USB stick with persistent capability by default. From a pure user point of view, seeing Porteus is similar to seeing Debian Live, regarding its desktop environment editions. More than that, a distinct feature compared to SLAX and Salix is that Porteus has KIOSK Edition.

Closing WordsThat's all. I hope you will be satisfied with my list. Actually, at the moment I'm writing, I found out more distros to be keeping 32-bit support such as heads (a free-only fork of Tails) and Q4OS. Beside those, there are Calculate and Pentoo (both are Gentoo derivatives). I believe there are still many options available out there. But I don't compile those here as I want a simpler list (honestly, I also don't have enough time for more). I am really glad I can mention one libre distro here (Trisquel) and also I find such distro like SLAX which is technically amazing. How can a 270MB distro gives a beautiful translucent desktop with Chromium browser, PCManFM, Debian repository, and full networking capability? You'll soon feel what I felt if you tried it. Try them, revive your old computers, and find your favorite one. I hope this compilation helps you a lot and helps reduce computer waste around the world. Happy working, happy reviving!

How to search in multiple partitions or folders at once? Basically you cannot do it with Nautilus or Dolphin file manager, respectively. But you can do it with Krusader or PCManFM file manager, on any desktop environment. I will demonstrate an example to search for ISO files stored on different partitions of an external hard disk drive. Enjoy!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.Good NewsFirst is their wide coverage. Krusader is originally a file manager of KDE, while PCManFM is of LXDE. But both of them can be used on any other desktop environment. For example you can use Krusader on XFCE, or PCManFM on GNOME.

Second is about LXQt. The new file manager, PCManFM-Qt, can already do multiple search just like its predecessor, PCManFM. This increases our choices of file manager to do this. So no matter which one of both I mention, the feature is just the same.

KrusaderThis is how Krusader, the twin panel file manager, looks. If this is your first encounter with it, know two things: icon between Back and Home is the partition list, and, Ctrl+S for search (not Ctrl+F here).

(Krusader File Manager initial user interface) To do multiple search, do the following:

1) Press Ctrl+S to open search dialog.

2) Type .iso as the keyword on the Search for box

3) Click folder button on under Search in frame

4) A folder select dialog appears

5) Select a partition from the external hard disk and OK

6) The partition address appears on the box

7) Press down button right before the folder button

8) The partition address inserted down in the list box

9) Repeat step 3 to 8 for another partitions

10) Press Search button to start multiple searching.

This is how search dialog looks like:

(Adding multiple search locations) And finally this is the result:

(Notice the Ext column: it shows that all found files have extension of .iso)PCManFMI take this example from Lubuntu 18.10 so it uses PCManFM-Qt, not the old PCManFM. But don't worry as the feature is exactly the same.

1) Go to menu Tool > Find Files.

2) Type the keyword *.iso (don't forget to use star)

3) Activate Case insensitive and Search sub directories

4) Click Add button

5) A folder select dialog appears

6) Navigate to open a partition (clue: on Ubuntu, all external storages are located under /media/{username})

7) Press Open button

8) The partition address appears on the list box

9) Repeat step 4 to 8 for another partitions

10) Press Search to begin multiple searching.

This is how PCManFM looks:

(PCManFM-Qt on Lubuntu 18.10; PCManFM on prior versions looks very similar)This is the search dialog:

I love KDE. I want an article introducing GNU/Linux distros dedicated to latest KDE so I write this one after my list of XFCE distros. By latest here I mean a distro which the ISO image is produced often (say, daily) to contain latest KDE release in the all three components of the Plasma, the Applications, and the Frameworks. I selected 5 distros: KDE Neon, openSUSE Krypton, Chakra, KaOS, and Fedora KDE. I hope you find your favorite one here. Read on and enjoy!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.Latest KDEBefore proceeding, we need to know what is currently latest KDE versions and their respective release date:

To see list of components and/or detailed information of each, follow their respective links above.

1. KDE Neonhttps://neon.kde.orgNeon is an official operating system of KDE Slimbook laptops, it's a stable but always with latest KDE as it's a distro from KDE itself. No wonder it's the first distro to release any new KDE changes directly to the users. If you're accustomed to Kubuntu and Mint KDE, you will find Neon to be similar and familiar. ISO image of latest neon is always produced once there is a new KDE release. So if you download neon after an announcement from KDE, you can be sure it has the latest KDE packages announced.

Comment: I tried neon 5.14 (from 20-Dec-2018 05:53 ) and basically I got Plasma 5.14.4. The base system is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. The repository special for KDE is located at archive.neon.kde.org and it provides truly latest KDE Plasma, Applications, and Frameworks.

openSUSE officially has two versions, Leap (fixed) and Tumbleweed (rolling). Being a long-time KDE distro, apparently, openSUSE has two edition of always-latest KDE versions which are Argon (based on Leap) and Krypton (based on Tumbleweed). I selected Krypton as it's the one still supporting 32-bit aside of 64-bit. So it's a good alternative if you cannot use neon and a good choice if you are already familiar with openSUSE family.

Chakra is originally a derivative of Arch GNU/Linux but soon after it became a stand-alone rolling-release distro. Chakra very explicitly states itself as dedicated distro for KDE and Qt on the main webpage. If you know Hyperbola OS, it's a mix between stable release (ala Debian) with rolling release (ala Arch): it's similar to half-rolling release model of Chakra. Chakra has considerably stable core system (for now, the only installer available is dated 2017 "Goedel") while you can update applications infinitely everyday to get the latest KDE. Not like any other system here, newest ISO image of Chakra is not produced often. Similar to Arch with AUR, Chakra also has a centralized Chakra Community Repository (CCR). However, Chakra is not compatible to Arch, repo and packages from Arch are not recommended to install on Chakra. If you want to try both rolling and KDE-centric distro for your first time ever, Chakra is a good start.

Comment: I only run Chakra from LiveCD and it has Plasma version 5.10.5. But once installed, and properly upgraded, latest Chakra (as per 23 December 2018) would have Plasma version 5.14.4 dated at 2018-Nov-29 10:39 from official repo. This is the only difference to all other systems here: Chakra needs to be installed (not LiveCD) and upgraded for you to enjoy the latest KDE.

KaOS, in similarity with Chakra, is an explicitly dedicated distro for KDE and Qt, with rolling release model. KaOS was the only one GNU/Linux distro ever had a goal to switch the kernel into illumos kernel (illumos is a non-GNU free operating system derived from source code of OpenSolaris and has a derivative named OpenIndiana). KaOS is a unique distro which deliberately "select" its users: those who have tried many distros and already found out the best choice is with KDE ones. Just similar to Arch with AUR and Chakra with CCP, Kaos also has centralized KaOS Community Packages repository (KCP). If you are tired in distro-hopping and in fact a long-time KDE fan, then I belive KaOS will be more suitable for you than Chakra.

Comment: I tried the ISO image version 2018.10 and I got Plasma 5.14.0. As many of you will notice similarity between KaOS and Chakra, you will also notice KaOS has but Chakra has no package search online.

Fedora, a GNOME distro, has many Spins ("Flavors" in Ubuntu terminology) including Fedora KDE. Fedora is widely known as a cutting-edge (latest technology platform) operating system where many free software solutions introduced on it earlier compared to any other distros. So, no wonder Fedora KDE gives you very latest version of KDE packages (and for power users: you will get more latest if you change the repository into Rawhide). Fedora itself is a fixed release distro, but if you use Rawhide repo it will be rolling release. If you missed KDE on Red Hat Enterprise, or found out too old KDE versions on CentOS, then Fedora is the best RPM distro to test latest KDE for you.

Comments: I tried Fedora KDE 29 and I got Plasma 5.13.5 by default. In the repository, latest version 5.14.4 is available already.

(Fedora KDE 29 with Plasma 5.13.5)

End WordsThat's all. I think some of you may wonder why I don't include Mageia and Netrunner here. Also, I don't include Q4OS even though it re-continuing the development of KDE 3. The reason is because I want an always-latest KDE distro like neon either it's modeled after Ubuntu (fixed-schedule release) or after Arch (rolling) and they have something new or unique. Netrunner is rolling enough, but there are already Chakra and KaOS for that. Manjaro KDE is same. Mageia is like Kubuntu for not being latest-version pursuer. Perhaps you would say Dragora or GuixSD? No, they even don't have ISO image with KDE built-in. And yes, I don't list Kubuntu here as it's not always-latest, or you must use third-party repository to obtain them. So I hope this is clear.

With five distros here, I can test a latest software from KDE only with LiveCD without altering my working operating system. You can take advantage of what I'm saying, plus, new experience in the rolling ones. And yes, if you cannot use KDE neon as your computer is 32-bit, there are still Fedora KDE and Krypton for you. (And for what I said in the beginning, you can see PureOS Plasma being very promising dedicated KDE distro which is fully free software but unfortunately it's not officially released yet.) Finally, I hope you'll like this list and enjoy them all!

Continuing the second part: this article discusses about screen reading on KDE. This means you can automatically read out loud every key press, start menu, user interface of program, as well as text document in it. The program used is GNOME Orca Screen Reader which is integrated very well to KDE Plasma. You will learn the basic knowledge, requirements and how to install them, configuring KDE and Orca to work together, running and closing Orca, and of course how to tweak the speech for the speed and voice type. I hope you can help yourself and anyone with this brilliant technology so everybody can use computer regardless their impairments or disabilities.

Orca is a high-level layer closer to you, and it makes use of lower-level layer consisted of speech-dispatcher and espeak. Notice, here, you meet them both one more time. Read again Part 2 and Part 1 for that.

Orca has Configuration window which can be activated by invoking command orca --setup or by pressing key combination Insert+Space.

"Desktop frame" or "frame" in general is Orca's language to call a window or a box section of user interface. This differentiates places whether it's a window or a menu, an entry of menu or child entry of that menu, to make them recognized easier by blind user. It is very important.

Requirements

gnome-orca

espeak

speech-dispatcher

On Ubuntu family operating systems, you can run the installation command:

Prepare Your Start MenuBeware, default Plasma start menu style is not readable by Orca. You must switch it first to "Application Menu" style.

Right-click start menu > Alternatives > Application Menu > Switch.

(This classic style start menu is compatible with Orca)1. Reading Your Key PressFirst, most basic feature of Orca is reading out loud every keyboard key press. You can try it out starting with alphabets, and then numbers, and then punctuations. See video below.

(Video: Orca reads out loud every tap of keyboard keys)[Download: 1MB video] 2. Reading Start MenuSecond, Orca can read out loud your start menu one by one. Be patient to point out your cursor also one by one as Orca needs several seconds delay to read between them. The demo is included in the first video above. Problem might occurred: if you don't hear anything, or readings become incomplete, perhaps KDE Plasma need to be restarted: press Alt+F2 and type plasmashell --replace and press Enter. 3. Reading Context Menu To read context-menu (menu appearing when you right-click an item), you need to point and wait for several seconds until you hear the reading voice. Again, watch the first video above.Problem might occurred: same as above, if readings are not complete, restart your desktop: press Alt+F2 and type plasmashell --replace and press Enter. 4. Reading File ManagerFourth, Orca can read out loud your file and folder names, document and multimedia file names, as well as the menu bar of your file manager. It can read out bookmark and partition names as well. See video below. (Video: Orca reading file manager interface including file and folder names, menus, and partition names)[Download: 9MB video] 5. Reading Text DocumentFifth, Orca can read text document. After running Orca, then run the text editor, then open the text file. With your cursor, block a word, or a line of text, or a paragraph to read it out loud. I use KWrite editor as example here. Open up a plain text document and try to read out loud with Orca. It's very easy. See video below. (Video: Orca reading text document in KWrite editor) [Download: 2MB video]Further ReadingsBefore you read everything else, read Ali Miracle interview by It's Foss, a blind programmer and a real Orca user. He is a developer of GNU/Linux distro named Uruk.

Next Part...That's all for now. For the next part, I will discuss about reading out loud LibreOffice Writer document with Orca as it needs special handling. You will need to install a certain program in order to do that. I hope you can help yourself and anybody more with this. Go ahead, enjoy!

Continuing the first part: Okular PDF Reader has read out loud (text to speech) feature but it needs configuration to make it works. You might find that there are very limited number of documentations available on the net about this case and if you find them you will know how complicated they are. So in this article I make it simple for you and I guarantee it's very easy to do this on Ubuntu (including Kubuntu and Neon). Ah, yeah, I include here a demonstration video you can play (don't worry it's hosted on PeerTube server, not YouTube). You will start with several basic knowledge below, then install everything needed, and then do the job. I hope this may help you to help anyone with disabilities or impairments to use GNU/Linux. Enjoy!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.Demo VideoThis is a video screencast of me enabling Okular to read out loud a PDF document about Unix history. It's only 1 minute and is very easy. This demonstrating how to start it, run the text to speech, and close it. Hear this out!

(Video hosted on PeerVideos.com (a good PeerTube service), freely licensed, and freely downloadable) Basic KnowledgeYou need several basic information mentioned below in order to run this TTS system on your GNU/Linux:

Different GNU/Linux distro may have a few different settings.

Like a hamburger, there are layers: your GNU/Linux system -> sound server -> dispatcher -> synthesizer -> program to open text (Okular)

TTS on Okular PDF Reader is basically cooperation between programs: synthesizer reads the text and translate it to speech, then dispatcher catches it, and dispatcher sends it to sound server, finally you hear the speech.

Dispatcher here is a program called speech-dispatcher, must be active for TTS system to run otherwise no speech could be heard.

Sound server here is a program called pulseaudio, as we use Ubuntu as example (other distro may use alsa instead)

Synthesizer here is a program called espeak, one among many synthesizers available on GNU/Linux.

Short definitions: dispatcher is the connector between synthesizer and other programs; sound server is the built-in program that produce sound output on your GNU/Linux; synthesizer is the real thing that do Text To Speech (TTS).

Okular needs a certain additional program ("plugin") to do TTS. It's called qtspeech5-speechd-plugin on Ubuntu. Without this, Okular will not read out loud.

Requirements

speech-dispatcher

espeak

okular 1.4 or later (or, any version where you can see "Speak..." options under Tools menu)

qtspeech5-speechd-plugin (special Qt5 plugin for Okular to do TTS)

correct timing and configuration

Step 1 install all requirements:Install the dispatcher:$ sudo apt-get install speech-dispatcher Install the synthesizer: $ sudo apt-get install espeakInstall the speech plugin for Okular:$ sudo apt-get install qtspeech5-speechd-pluginNote: in this moment the version of Qt is 5. In the future, when you still read this article, you may find the version changed and the package version or name changed as well. This article is based only on current version.

Step 2 activate the dispatcher:Run the dispatcher first:$ speech-dispatcher -dMake sure dispatcher is active:$ ps aux | grep speech-dispatcherIt's active if you see many lines of red string "speech-dispatcher" started with /usr/bin/speech-dispatcher. If you see only one red string started with grep, then it's inactive.

Step 3 do text to speech:You must run Okular after speech-dispatcher. Otherwise, Okular cannot read out loud. If such case happens, simply restart Okular

Go to menu bar Tools > Speak Current Page. It works! You should hear the text being read out loud.

Read whole document:

Select Speak Whole Document to read out loud all text on all pages. It works!

Read a certain paragraph:

Press Ctrl+4 so your cursor turns into text selection cursor.

Select a paragraph.

Right-click > Speak Text. It works!

Stop the speech:

Go to menu bar Tools > Stop Speaking.

Step 4 stop the dispatcher:Run killall for speech-dispatcher:$ killall speech-dispatcherOnce speech-dispatcher killed, Okular can no more read out loud.

Common ErrorsI met some errors which are nowhere to find the easy solution on the net. Fortunately, I found the solutions and they are easy to do. I hope you can solve these problem yourselves.

Error number 1: No text-to-speech plug-ins were found.

Explanation: this happens when you run Okular from command line and you click the speak button. This is because you don't have qtspeech5-speechd-plugin package installed. The solution is to install it. On other distro, this package may have different name.

Error number 2:Failed to connect to speech-dispatcher.

Explanation: with Jovie (not espeak) this happens when you run any TTS but you don't have speech-dispatcher program or it's not active. The solution is to install or activate speech-dispatcher first.

Further ReadingIn case you want to learn more, here's references including those from speech-dispatcher.

Next Part...That's all for now. I hope you can read out loud all your PDF documents now. At this moment you can only read out loud with default configuration. This means, you may find the voice is not satisfying: too fast, too harsh, etc. On the next part, I will discuss about Orca Screen Reader first, and later, I planned to write one part for configuring our TTS system (speech-dispatcher + espeak) to suit our needs including changing voice genders, languages, punctuation, speed, and more. I hope this helps everybody. Enjoy!to be continued...

Text to Speech (TTS) is a technology to assist disabled people in reading-by-hearing for those who cannot see and in speaking-by-typing for those who cannot speak. eSpeak Speech Synthesizer is an amazing program on GNU/Linux to help anybody helping themselves (or, helping others who have disabilities and impairments). This article is one part of my new series in GNU/Linux accessibility and I want this to be easy for everybody. I will explain to you in this first part the basics by using espeak as a perfect example for first timers. You will learn how to type the text and let computer speaks it loud. This way, you can help anyone who is mute to speak using their computer. Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.Summary

You should install this software on your GNU/Linux. On Ubuntu, the package name is espeak. Other distros may have different package names. Install it:$ sudo apt-get install espeak Exercise:Run espeak command:$ espeakType hello! and press Enter. What voice do you hear?

Type my name is bonnie and press Enter. What voice do you hear?

Type what is your name? and press Enter. What voice do you hear?

Press Ctrl+C to close the program.

See? It works. But, you will find that all those speaking out voices are too fast. You can slow them down.

Type now you can speak using computer! and press Enter. How does it sound?

Type just type to say what you want to say! and press Enter. Is it perfect now?

Press Ctrl+C to close the program.

You see, the parameter -s is speed, and -g is gap. Speed is reading speed in word per minute, by default it's 160. Gap is pause gap between words, by default it's 1. Play with the numbers to find out your suitable composition.

Now, you can change the language of speaker to your native one. I give you example here Indonesian (espeak code: "asia/id").

Next Part...That's all. Thanks Jonathan Duddington for creating espeak. I really hope this article helps you and other people a lot, especially those with impairments. For the next part, I will explain about Text To Speech from PDF reader. I will use KDE Okular for that. Okay, enjoy, and let's help people with accessibility technology!

If you use GNOME 3.30 or later, you may find that 'icons on desktop' feature does not exist anymore. You cannot add anything to your personal Desktop folder like you usually did. Fortunately, thanks to csoriano, this removed feature can be added back by installing Desktop Icons extension. You will find this extension useful if you use latest GNOME on Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, and Ubuntu if the Nautilus version is over 3.26. This article shows how it looks from openSUSE Tumbleweed GNOME. Try it and enjoy!

Install the ExtensionTo install a GNOME Shell Extension, go to the website and click the 'ON' button there. Ubuntu users should be fine with this tutorial. Once installed, you don't need any tweaking, simply try it. If you want to change the icon size, use GNOME Tweaks tool.

(The 'ON' button and GNOME Tweaks showing the configurations)At A GlanceSee, it's like below. You can put either it's program, folder, or any file on desktop. For example, put a folder, Firefox and Image Viewer.

(Icons on desktop in action)Grid ArrangementIcons placed on desktop are arranged in grid tidily. You can drag-and-drop icon here.

(Grid arrangement of icons)How To PlayHow to put desired icons on desktop? Copy and paste any folder or file to your personal Desktop folder. For programs, copy the .desktop file from /usr/share/applications to there. Then see your wallpaper. That's it! Unfortunately, for now, you cannot drag-and-drop them directly from Nautilus to desktop. I hope next release of Desktop Icons will have such feature.

(Putting files, including application shortcuts, on Desktop make them icons on desktop)This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

This is a compilation of download information of user guide books of Ubuntu and the 5 Official Flavors (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, and Ubuntu Studio). You can find either complete user guides (even for server edition), installation guide, or tutorials compilation; either in PDF or HTML format; plus where to purchase two official ebooks of Ubuntu MATE. On the end of this tutorial, I included how to download the HTML-only documentation so you can read it completely offline. I hope you will find all of books useful and you can print them out yourself. Get the books, print them, share with your friends, read and learn Ubuntu All Flavors.

(HTML, thorough guide book by community)Download for Offline ReadingSome documentations below are only available in HTML format, not in PDF. Basically, you can either read them online or save as (Ctrl+S) one page by one page to read them offline. But to make all things easier, you can "mirror" instead (download the whole documentation) so you can read the website without connecting to the internet. To do this, you just need GNU wget download manager which is already included on Ubuntu.

$ wget -c --mirror -l 1 -np -p -k https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/tips-tutorials-and-guides-index/14519That's all. These examples can be applied to any other documentation available on the net as you wish. Go ahead and try!

This is a review comparing two versions of Lubuntu, 18.04 LTS with LXDE and 18.10 with LXQt. It's about Bionic Beaver and Cosmic Cuttlefish. This means this is the last review of Lubuntu with LXDE. You will find here how they differ in cases of appearance, default applications set, file manager, network manager, package manager, and so on. Very fortunate for us that both version (and even next version Disco Dingo) keep supporting 32-bit architecture so we can still use any of them on our oldest PCs or Macintosh possible. They're only between +/-250 and +/-350MB in RAM usage. They're lightweight, computer-reviving, and compete operating systems worth to try. Go ahead, happy reading and happy working with Lubuntu!

A Brief Lubuntu 18.04 LTS18.04 is the last version of Lubuntu with LXDE. Fortunately it's a Long Term Support edition. It will be supported officially by Lubuntu Team for 3 years. This means 32-bit computer users will have this lightweight OS supported up to 2021. We can imagine running old PCs with latest free software and security updates for that period of time. (Oh yeah, and it's just about support, but for your time of use is not limited at all)

(Lubuntu 18.04 LTS with PCManFM and start menu) (Gif animation: Lubuntu 18.04 start menu one by one)A Glance Lubuntu 18.1018.10 is a brand new Lubuntu which starts its debut using LXQt desktop environment. FYI, LXQt is a descendant of LXDE which uses Qt instead of GTK as its library basis. Finally it switched to LXQt after long long time testing since 2013. What you will see changed for the first time is the file manager: it's now PCManFM-Qt. Also, noticeable changes are Super key to open the start menu, and there is a search feature now. Honestly, you will find out Lubuntu 18.10 resembles Kubuntu more right now.

(Lubuntu 18.10 with PCManFM-Qt File Manager and start menu)(Gif animation: Cosmic LXQt start menu one by one)1. Installer ComparisonFinally, Lubuntu comes with Calamares on 18.10 after long time coming with Ubiquity system installer up to 18.04. This means Lubuntu LXQt now has more modern user interface to install the OS which is also commonly used on PureOS, Neon, Netrunner, Manjaro, Sabayon, and OpenMandriva. I've published tutorial to install Lubuntu 18.10.

In general, installing Lubuntu 18.04 is no difference to Ubuntu. It's a generic 10-steps to install like what you saw on most of our tutorials. Traditionally, all Ubuntu users will be familiar with this one.

(The traditional installer, named Ubiquity, which is used up to 18.04 LTS)As it switched to Calamares on 18.10, you will find new experince with slight differences in steps to install, like, the username creation is before starting the formatting process. As addition, users coming from Manjaro will feel like home here.

(The brand new installer of Cosmic LXQt)Fortunately, both 18.04 LTS and 18.10 support both 32-bit and 64-bit. Making them both suitable as lightweight and computer-reviving operating systems. You have old PCs and Macintosh? Try the 32-bit one!

(32-bit and 64-bit versions available on Lubuntu 18.10 download server)And, it looks like next release of Lubuntu (19.04 codenamed "Disco Dingo") will keep support 32-bit architecture as well. See official announcement here.

2. Size ComparisonIf you look at built-in applications on 18.10, it's no wonder the ISO image size became 60% bigger compared to 18.04. Bionic is still 1.0GiB, while Cosmic already reached as far as 1.6GiB.

(Comparing between the two ISO images)3. Appearance ComparisonAt a glance, no big difference between the two. But now on 18.10 you will find changing themes and everything about customization easier and not scattered anymore like before. Surprisingly, just like LXDE, LXQt desktop itself does not have own window manager, and as a result Cosmic LXQt still uses Openbox Windows Manager.

First glance:

This is how Lubuntu normally looks like up to Bionic. It's a standard LXDE system with much Openbox Window Manager options.

(Bionic LXDE)And this is how Lubuntu 18.10 looks like starting from Cosmic. To be honest, it's more KDE-ish (or Plasma-ish). No wonder as it being rebuilt using Qt, same framework which built KDE. However, this beautiful interface is drawn by Openbox as well.

(Cosmic LXQt with built-in KDE Plasma theme enabled)Icons on desktop:

This feature receives many improvements which is nice on 18.10. We got a "Trust Selected Executables" now, so we don't need to edit properties one file by one file like on GNOME 3.26. I like this! Aside of that, it's very easy to rearrange icons by select them > right-click on one > uncheck Stick to Current Position. Ah yeah, you can drag-and-drop application from start menu to desktop area to make shortcut. Also, you can make shortcut (symlink) from file manager! If you dislike how GNOME removed these features, you will feel like home on LXQt!

(Gif animation: icons on desktop and easiy give "Trust" to them)(Gif animation: drag-and-drop from start menu or from file manager to make shortcuts)4. Memory Usage ComparisonTo put it simply: 18.04 takes ~240MB, while 18.10 takes ~350MB. It's now on par with Kubuntu 18.04 and KDE neon which take similar ~350MB. But still, as a lightweight OS, it's still the most lightweight in RAM use compared to other Official Flavors. This number is still very reasonable for use on old PCs with even only 512MB of RAM as long as you don't burden it too much.

Bionic LXDE:

+/-240MB

(LXTask says 240MB of RAM used)Cosmic LXQt:

+/-350MB

(qps says 350MB of RAM used)5. Applications TransitionSurprisingly, starting from 18.10 Lubuntu ships with LibreOffice and not Abiword+Gnumeric duo anymore. Here's a short list showing the transition and the newly added programs. No wonder the ISO got really bigger now. Personally, athough it's big, I like this change so much.

Changing Applications

Abiword -> LibreOffice Writer

Gnumeric -> LibreOffice Calc

mtPaint -> LibreOffice Draw

Sylpheed -> Trojita Mail Client

Hexchat -> Quassel IRC Client

Leafpad -> Featherpad Text Editor

Simple Scan -> Skanlite Scanner Manager

Xfburn -> K3B CD Burner

Galculator -> KCalc

LXTerminal -> QTerminal

Newly Added

QtPass (password keeper, like KeePassX)

QTransmission (Qt version of Transmission BitTorrent)

Qlipper (clipboard tool, similar to KDE Klipper)

VLC (audio/video player)

Qpdfview (PDF reader)

BlueDevil (bluetooth manager)

Plasma Discover (software center)

Muon Package Manager (similar to Synaptic Package Manager)

Removed

GNOME Disk Utility (disk and partition formatter)

HardInfo (system info and device manager)

6. File Searching Comparison Not much changes in purely user sight, Ctrl+F is still not embedded into toolbar (so, not like Dolphin or Nautilus), so it opens a new window with more options. For new comers to Lubuntu, at first glance this may felt very inconvenient, but if you look closer actually it's pretty good as it gives you searching features like regex, case insensitive, by content, and evenmultiple places at once. A new user just need to get accustomed to use the options available.

The only noticeable change is the shortcut key. On 18.04, it's Ctrl+Shift+F. But on 18.10 it's refined back to Ctrl+F.

(Cosmic LXQt searching, no difference to Bionic LXDE one)And... on 18.10 now it supports Ctrl+I filtering like Dolphin! Wow, it's my favorite feature from KDE and it's now on LXQt.

(Ctrl+I, my favorite feature of KDE now available on LXQt)7. F3 ComparisonOn Bionic LXDE you can still use split vertical feature but on Cosmic LXQt you cannot. Simply press F3 like usual to split up. I hope LXQt Developers will strongly consider this nice feature to be added on next version of PCManFM-Qt.

(Split vertical feature on Bionic LXDE)8. Super Key ComparisonMore surprise, now Lubuntu accepts Super key to open/close start menu. However, up to 18.04 LTS we use Ctrl+Esc to open and Esc to close the start menu. I'm waiting for this feature since a long time ago. This change on 18.10 really made me happy.

(Super key opens, tap it again to close; I love that)9. Panel ComparisonPanel receives many improvements on 18.10 LXQt. Again, it's more KDE-like if you see the configuration of the taskbar. On LXDE, the language is longer, for example, to express "Disable window grouping" it takes longer wording "Disable combine multiple applications into a single button". More than that, panel is now more configurable (with more settings) and more efficient (you can make it double row now). Really, now on LXQt, these things gotten simpler and better.

(Taskbar settings: if you're familiar with KDE, you will find these Taskbar settings very similar)

(Panel settings: starting from size, position, auto-hide, color and transparency, to use separate icon theme with desktop icon)With above settings, you can make it double row like what you found on Trisquel like this:

(To configure: right-click panel > Configure Panel > set Rows count=2 > set Size=48)10. Network Manager ComparisonI should say Network Manager on 18.04 LTS is far better than 18.10. I admit it. You will feel it yourself once you tried. But for most PC users with ethernet cable or USB tethering from smartphone, and some laptop users who use wifi hotspot without password, this one is enough.

If you find Network Manager (command line: nm-tray) on Cosmic is not convenient, you can use Wicd as a replacement. If you cannot connect to your favorite wifi, simply use USB Tethering from your smartphone to install Wicd. It should looks like below.

(Wicd running on Lubuntu 18.10 replacing the default network manager)11. Utilities ComparisonFor example, let's compare the PDF readers. On 18.04, it's GNOME Evince, a standard all around ebook viewer. It does not support multitab. While on 18.10, it's Qpdfview with multitab feature.

Bionic LXDE:

(Opening three PDF books will open three different windows)Cosmic LXQt:

(Qpdfview opening three PDF books the same as 18.04 above, but in multiple tabs)12. Support Lifespan ComparisonAs usual, for LTS version, each of Official Flavors got 3 years support from each official team, while for Regular version each got 9 month support. What does it mean "support" is clear if you read the output of ubuntu-support-status command line like below. The support is the improvements and security updates for certain group of software packages (not all packages in the repo supported).

For 18.04 LTS, Lubuntu-specific and LXDE-related packages are supported by the Lubuntu team for 3 years. Plus, base Ubuntu system got supported by Canonical team for 5 years. This means you will get updates for both in terms of desktop programs and in core system up to 2021 and 2023, respectively. That is the meaning of Long Term Service (LTS) on Lubuntu.

(Bionic LXDE: showing sources.list and support status of 3 years from Lubuntu Team and 5 years from Canonical) While on 18.10, Canonical will give support for 9 months. After that period ended later on July 2019, you will receive no update anymore, and you cannot install more programs from official repo, but you still can run the Lubuntu forever without limit. That's the meaning of Regular (non-LTS) release.

(Cosmic LXQt: 9 month lifespan until July 2019)13. Can They Run AppImages?Yes, they can!

AppImage is the single-executable application format. As you read this article, you saw those Gif animations above, then you saw that these two Lubuntu can run AppImage. More precisely, I run Peek Gif application AppImage on them. Yes, I can aso run Inkscape, GIMP, LibreOffice appimages and so on. Try them out!

(Cosmic LXQt: the system settings)(Bionic LXDE does not have a centralized settings)

15. Package Management SystemOn 18.04 LTS, we got GNOME Software (as application store) and software-properties-gtk. On other hand, starting with 18.10, we got Plasma Discover and software-properties-kde. It is clever decision, I like this, as nowadays GNU/Linux desktop app stores still often got error (from purely user perspective) so user has one more option to do software installation more precisely using the alternative one included built-in. I really missed when Ubuntu started to deprecate Synaptic in favor of Software Center only so I think this Lubuntu decision is a better one. In conclusion, although everything is changed on 18.10, you don't have to worry as the alternatives are as good as the original ones.

This reminds me to the old time with 9.10 while we still use GNOME 2 on Ubuntu with Software Center included along with Synaptic Package Manager. Redundant? Perhaps, from technical perspective only, but practically it's useful for many users especially those don't have technical skills to tweak. It's very nice old time.

My comment here is that the software center, called Discover, got better and better now in appearance and in configurations. More than that, Muon Package Manager is a good alternative to Synaptic, it's also detailed and precise, with ability to help software installation in offline condition. Both Discover and Muon are connected to Software Sources (application to edit repository addresses). These completeness, alternative readiness, and integration make you don't need to worry anymore about installing software or adding new repositories (PPA) to your Lubuntu 18.10.

Not safe to upgrade from 18.04 to 18.10. It's recommended for you to do a fresh install.

Search on start menu sometimes doesn't work.

Network manager is very confusing and not usable.

With file manager: no F3 and no zoom.

However, fortunately I don't find any noticeable issue on 18.04 LTS.

Conclusions

For most users, I recommend Lubuntu 18.04 LTS instead for the sake of usability and support duration.

For first timer who installed/want to install 18.10 LXQt, go ahead and you will get beautiful user interface and very nice experience, but I recommend you to use Wicd instead of default network manager.

For LXQt desktop pursuer, Lubuntu 18.10 is a great example of LXQt system. Try it first.

And finally my thanks to brother Alwan Rosyidi for pointing me out for the first time about Lubuntu 18.10 having LXQt. Without his clue, I would be late to hear about it and this review will me too late to publish.

Contribute to LubuntuThere are many ways to participate to Lubuntu development for everybody. You want to help your own operating system? Then here you have the ways. They are mainly separated in two options:

This tutorial explains step by step to install Lubuntu 18.10 "Cosmic Cuttlefish". It's available for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. This is the first edition ever comes with LXQt Desktop Environment and also Calamares System Installer. This means Lubuntu Cosmic will have a slightly different steps to install as it does not use Ubiquity anymore. You will prepare two blank partitions, and one more if your computer initialization system is UEFI (not BIOS), and go through 10 steps until all finished. Happy working, enjoy Lubuntu LXQt!

Preparations1. Create two partitions. One of >=20GB to be the main partition, and one of 1GB to be the swap partition. Do this with program to edit disk partition like GParted. If you don't have idea about partitioning, ask a technician near you to do it.

2. If your computer is a UEFI system (UEFI is new generation BIOS; all computers more recent than 2010 should have it), you should create one 200MB partition. This will be your /boot/efi partition.

3. Create Lubuntu 18.10 installation media with a USB Flash Drive. If you computer cannot boot using USB (old PCs are usually like that), create a DVD instead. Follow tutorial in making USB here, or tutorial in making DVD here.

4. Unless your data storage is empty, and you're confident with your experience, make backup of all your important data. Save them in a safe external storage.

As example, these are my prepared partitions. Use lsblk command to know all your partitions.

(Output of lsblk: /dev/sda2 of 20GigaByte will be my main partition)BootingInsert your USB media and boot your computer into USB. You should see Lubuntu 18.10 screen showing many options and select first option "Try without making changes". On the desktop, run the Install Lubuntu 18.10 program. This launches Lubuntu Installer (also called "Calamares").1. Select LanguageSelect your language from the selection on the bottom.

2. Select Time ZonePoint your time zone on the map. If you cannot, use the drop-down menu available instead.

4. Select Manual PartitioningIf your system is UEFI, first follow the Special Section below.First: choose "Manual Partitioning" (equal to "Something Else" on Ubiquity) and go next. Always choose manual so you won't have to worry.

(Focus on the "Manual partitioning" option)Second: be sure the hard disk choice is your intended hard disk if you have 2 or more of them. But if it's only one, nothing to choose so just go ahead.

(Creating >=1GB swap partition)Special For UEFIIf your system is UEFI, you should make a /boot/efi partition of 200MB.

Select the third prepared partition of 200MB.

Edit.

Set EXT4 Filesystem.

Set mount point to /boot/efi.

OK.

Now go back to the creation of main and swap above.

5. Put Bootloader on PlaceChoose the hard disk name where your main partition belongs as the bootloader place. For example, as my main one is /dev/sda2 then the bootloader place is /dev/sda. See picture below.

(Creating username, password, and hostname)7. Read the SummarySummary of installation plan will be shown. Please examine one by one and be sure there is no mistake in this plan. If you feel anything goes wrong, you can still change it, simply go Back and correct it. This is the last step before executing the real installation.

(Read the summary)8. Start the InstallationThe installer will as you to "Install Now". After this, you cannot go back anymore. If you are sure everything is right, then Install Now.

(Only if you are sure, go Install Now)9. WaitOnce installation is performed, you will see a beautiful slideshow showing features and nice things about Lubuntu 18.10. You will wait in approximately no more than 15 minutes.

(Progress of installation with progress bar, percentage, and short detail of what's going on)10. FinishFinished installation will ask you to restart the computer. It says "All done" and "Restart now". Just follow it and congratulations! Happy working and enjoy Lubuntu 18.10 LXQt Edition!

Continuing my list of RSS feeds, now it's a list of more than 60 Twitters of free/libre open source software community. Aside of software and distro projects, this includes also organizations, companies, computer vendors, desktop environments, conferences, and programming languages. I even list Twitters of BSDs and several other free OSes here. Please be aware that this long list is small, there are still so many other important projects not listed here (not to mention, several of them don't have Twitters) so please discover them yourself. I hope you can find the one you love and follow their information updates. Go for your journey!

For both long-time and new users, even in 2018, you can still enable 3D Desktop effects on Ubuntu GNU/Linux variants. Compiz, the famous 3D compositor in old time (most of us know it), is still alive. KWin, the 3D compositor of KDE, is also still there. You just need to know how to enable 3D on each desktop environment. Here, I use Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu MATE as examples. Enjoy the nostalgia!

KubuntuRepresenting distros share KDE Plasma Desktop, Kubuntu does not use Compiz, but instead KWin, KDE's own window manager. The settings are available under KDE System Settings already, so you don't need CCSM on KDE.

(3D desktop on Kubuntu 18.04)Ubuntu MATE Representing other distros share MATE Desktop, Ubuntu MATE has two compositors built-in "Marco" and also "Compiz". You can enable Compiz first, then using CCSM you enable 3D Cube. Just like our old-old times. (Note: other distros may need Compiz installed by hand.)

(3D desktop on Ubuntu MATE 18.04)XubuntuRepresenting all other distros using XFCE, Xubuntu (honestly) does not bring Compiz by default. XFWM4, the built-in window manager does not have 3D, so you will need Compiz there. No problem, in this case you just need to install Compiz later.

(3D desktop on Xubuntu 18.04)ConfigurationsThey're grouped in two, Compiz and KWin, both are the compositors. Compositor is a component of desktop environment that is responsible to draw 3D effects. If you wonder, the secret is, often a window manager is also a compositor. So no matter what distro are you using now, if you use MATE / XFCE then go follow Compiz below; but if you use KDE then go follow KWin instead. Those are the only difference.

Continuing second part, here I will discuss about Applets which can be added to Budgie Desktop. I highlight several of more than 20 applets available today: NetSpeed, Clocks, Brightness, Alt+Tab, Global Menu, Workspace Wallpapers, Weather, and Screenshot applets. If you wonder what it is, an "applet" in Budgie is the same as "extension" on GNOME or "widget" on KDE Plasma. Now, for this article I make a journey in installing them and putting them around my desktop and I have much fun. I really love to see things that I didn't see on another desktop environments before and I find many here. Who know that we can still use global menu even in Budgie, considering Unity has been dropped and Budgie itself is still new? Who know tif here is a splendid screenshot tool (with more features than built-in GNOME Screenshot) created solely for Budgie? I won't know until I tried them. I hope it will be more interesting for you this time and you can go try them now. Enjoy!

A. The Budgie WelcomeBudgie Welcome is not a part of Budgie Desktop. It's a program developed by Ubuntu Budgie developers. In this case, you won't find Budgie Welcome on Solus OS, the origin OS of Budgie Desktop. Anyway, this program helps you a lot to find and install Budgie Applets (called "Extensions" on GNOME or "Widgets" on KDE). Once you run it, click Install Software > Budgie Applets > and applets selection should appear.

(Budgie Welcome, a introductory program for Budgie Desktop users)B. Available AppletsThere are two different things between Ubuntu Budgie and Solus, that, users of former OS can install all third-party applets using Budgie Welcome while users of latter OS can only install some using eopkg package manager (at least, up to today). The reason is because those applets are already brought within Budgie Welcome thanks to "budgie-extras"; while on Solus OS most of them are not in repository yet. However, all applets are available from respective developers in GitHub. If you use Solus, you can compile them up from source yourself. To mention some:

Here's Ubuntu Budgie's Budgie Welcome program. You can see this selection page of Applets by clicking Install > Applets.

(Budgie Welcome showing applets ready to be installed)C. Installing Applets & Enabling ThemOn Solus, there are only some applets already available in the eopkg repo. On Ubuntu Budgie, fortunately, all applets are already included within aforementioned Budgie Welcome.

Solus OS:Looking for available applets:$ eopkg search budgie (Click to enlarge picture)You see, there is an applet named budgie-haste-applet.

Enabling:To enable an applet, use Budgie Settings, go to Panel section, and press ' + ' button to add one. Use up and down arrows to move an applet up and down in arrangement. See this Gif animation for example.

(Gif animation: adding an applet "Hot corner" to panel)Now, I will highlight some applets I feel interesting. After this, feel free to have another journey with the rest of applets not mentioned here. Enjoy!

1. NetSpeed (aka System Monitor)Perhaps some of you knew that this is the kind of applet I love the most. With this, you know upload/download speed, so you know how your limited internet data plan being spent. However, the official name is System Monitor.

Settings:

(The name on Budgie Settings: System Monitor)2. Multiple Time-Zone ClocksYou can display multiple different clocks (e.g. for your overseas team members) with this one. Click + and you get new clock. Click magnifier icon and your browser appears with world map https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/ to help you determine the time zone for each clock. Each clock time zone is determined by +[number] or -[number], for example, +7 for Jakarta/Asia and -7 for Denver/USA. This way, all will show accurate times for each name of members you write on bottom of each clock. For me who live in Indonesia (a country with triple time zones), this is useful.

(One clock for one team mate, for example)Settings:

(The name on Budgie Settings: ClockWorks)3. BrightnessHonestly, it's my first time seeing two sliders on one brightness controller. They are Light and Dim sliders, with 0-976 and 10-100 scales, respectively. If you scroll down them both to zero, your screen will get completely black. However, its Github page doesn't explain more about how it works.

Settings:

(The name on Budgie Settings: Advanced Brightness Controller)4. Expose (Alt+Tab Switcher)This applet replaces the original Budgie's Alt+Tab switcher to have window thumbnails. Honestly, I like thumbnail style better than just icon style like the original one. However, on my machine this applet is a bit slow, it delayed window switching. I hope this applet to become faster next time.

Before:

After:

Settings:

(The name on Budgie Settings: Window Previews)5. Global MenuNow, number of desktop environments that support global menu is increasing with Budgie Desktop as it has the applet. We know that GNU/Linux desktop started popularizing this macOS-like feature since Unity Desktop inception (Ubuntu 11.04), followed by KDE Plasma, MATE, and finally now Budgie. If you combine it with transparent panel, it would look perfect.

(Global menu with built-in theme of Budgie enabled)Settings:

(The name on Budgie Settings: Global Menu)6. Different Workspace WallpapersDo you remember old times with KDE when you can place different wallpapers on different workspaces? On Budgie Desktop, you can do it again thanks to Workspace Wallpaper Applet. Once installed, restart your machine, and add it up on Budgie Settings > Panel > Add New Applet > choose Wallpaper Switcher. It won't show any icon on panel but now you can change wallpaper on each workspace you have so they all differ.

Result:

(First and second workspaces showing different backgrounds; notice the workspace switcher applet on bottom panel)Settings:

First, you should add Workspace Switcher applet on your panel.

Second, add the Workspace Wallpaper applet to panel. It won't show any icon, indeed.

Finally, try to switch between workspaces and you should see different wallpapers.

7. Weather on DesktopNotice the clock floating on the wallpaper area on Ubuntu Budgie? This applet does the same thing but for weather forecast instead. It's really nice to put this along with that clock. However, of course, to have this works you will need internet access.

Settings:

(The name: Desktop weather; see the City and Set custom position sections there)

8. Screenshot ToolHey, really, this one is a splendid applet. It's similar to Shutter Screenshot Tool but smaller and integrated well to Budgie Desktop. It features delay time enabled by default, upload to Imgur directly, custom file name, capturing from different display, and many more. All in this simple applet. So far, this is my favorite applet from Budgie Desktop. Very nice work, Stefan Ric!

(Screenshot of the screenshot tool)(Gif animation: taking a screenshot and upload to Imgur in only two clicks)(Gif animation: settings of Screenshot applet including delay time and upload destination selection)End WordsThat's all. I hope this part encourage you enough to have a journey yourself on Budgie desktop. Start with Ubuntu Budgie and have a nice day. Next time, I will discuss about customization including icons and themes. This will also include the Budgie Settings that mentioned above. Happy working!

More in Tux Machines

today's leftovers

For those concerned that running Clear Linux means less available packages/bundles than the likes of Debian, Arch Linux, and Fedora with their immense collection of packaged software, Clear has a goal this year of increasing their upstream components available on the distribution by three times.
Intel Fellow Arjan van de Ven provided an update on their bundling state/changes for the distribution. In this update he shared that the Clear Linux team at Intel established a goal this year to have "three times more upstream components in the distro. That's a steep growth, and we want to do that with some basic direction and without reducing quality/etc. We have some folks figuring out what things are the most desired that we lack, so we can add those with most priority... but this is where again we more than welcome feedback."

You might think this annual poll would be fairly similar from year to year, from what distros we list to how people answer, but the results are wildly different from year to year.
(At the time of the creation of each poll, we pull the top 15 distributions according to DistroWatch over the past 12 months.)
Last year, the total votes tallied in at 15,574! And the winner was PCLinuxOS with Ubuntu a close second. Another interesting point is that in 2018, there were 950 votes for "other" and 122 comments compared to this year with only 367 votes for "other" and 69 comments.

Fedora operating system releases are (largely) time-based activity where a new base operating system (kernel, libraries, compilers) is built and tested against our Editions for functionality. This provides a new source for solutions to be built on. The base operating systems may continue to be maintained on the current 13 month life cycle — or services that extend that period may be provided in the future. A solution is never obligated to build against all currently maintained bases.

If you've lived through a major, natural disaster, you know that during the first few days you'll probably have to rely on a mental map, instead of using a smartphone as an extension of your brain. Where's the closest hospital with disaster care? What about shelters? Gas stations? And how many soft story buildings—with their propensity to collapse—will you have to zig-zag around to get there?
Trying to answer these questions after moving back to earthquake-prone San Francisco is why I started the Resiliency Maps project. The idea is to store information about assets, resources, and hazards in a given geographical area in a map that you can download and print out. The project contributes to and is powered by OpenStreetMap (OSM), and the project's entire toolkit is open source, ensuring that the maps will be available to anyone who wants to use them.

Drupal is the third most-widely used CMS behind WordPress and Joomla. With an estimated 3 percent to 4 percent of the world's billion-plus websites, that means Drupal runs tens of millions of sites. Critical flaws in any CMS are popular with hackers, because the vulnerabilities can be unleashed against large numbers of sites with a single, often-easy-to-write script.

Bradley Kuhn works for the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and part of what that organization does is to think about the problems that software freedom may encounter in the future. SFC worries about what will happen with the four freedoms as things change in the world. One of those changes is already upon us: the Internet of Things (IoT) has become quite popular, but it has many dangers, he said. Copyleft can help; his talk is meant to show how.
It is still an open question in his mind whether the IoT is beneficial or not. But the "deep trouble" that we are in from IoT can be mitigated to some extent by copyleft licenses that are "regularly and fairly enforced". Copyleft is not the solution to all of the problems, all of the time—no idea, no matter how great, can be—but it can help with the dangers of IoT. That is what he hoped to convince attendees with his talk.
A joke that he had seen at least three times at the conference (and certainly before that as well) is that the "S" in IoT stands for security. As everyone knows by now, the IoT is not about security. He pointed to some recent incidents, including IoT baby monitors that were compromised by attackers in order to verbally threaten the parents. This is "scary stuff", he said.

Pat decided to update the Python 3 to version 3.7.2. This update from 3.6 to 3.7 broke binary compatibility and a lot of packages needed to be rebuilt in -current. But you all saw the ChangeLog.txt entry of course.
In my ‘ktown’ repository with Plasma5 packages, the same needed to happen. I have uploaded a set of recompiled packages already, so you can safely upgrade to the latest -current as long as you also upgrade to the latest ‘ktown’. Kudos to Pat for giving me advance warning so I could already start recompiling my own stuff before he uploaded his packages.

The KDE Community has just announced the wider integration of Matrix instant messaging into its communications infrastructure. There are instructions on the KDE Community Wiki as well.
So what’s the state of modern chat with KDE-FreeBSD?
The web client works pretty well in Falkon, the default browser in a KDE Plasma session on FreeBSD. I don’t like leaving browsers open for long periods of time, so I looked at the available desktop clients. Porting Quaternion to FreeBSD was dead simple. No compile warnings, nothing, just an hour of doing some boilerplate-ish things, figuring out which Qt components are needed, and doing a bunch of test builds. So that client is now available from official FreeBSD ports. The GTK-based client Fractal was already ported, so there’s choices available for native-desktop applications over the browser or Electron experience.

If you followed Kdenlive’s activity these last years, you know that we dedicated all our energy into a major code refactoring. During this period, which is not the most exciting since our first goal was to simply restore all the stable version’s features, we were extremely lucky to see new people joining the core team, and investing a lot of time in the project.
We are now considering to release the updated version in April, with KDE Applications 19.04. There are still a few rough edges and missing features (with many new ones added as well), but we think it now reached the point where it is possible to start working with it.

Preliminary Support Allows Linux KVM To Boot Xen HVM Guests

As one of the most interesting patch series sent over by an Oracle developer in quite a while at least on the virtualization front, a "request for comments" series was sent out on Wednesday that would enable the Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) to be able to boot Xen HVM guests.
The 39 patches touching surprisingly just over three thousand lines of code allow for Linux's KVM to run unmodified Xen HVM images as well as development/testing of Xen guests and Xen para-virtualized drivers. This approach is different from other efforts in the past of tighter Xen+KVM integration.

Servers: Kubernetes, SUSE Enterprise Storage and Microsoft/SAP

One of the questions I get asked quite often by people who are just starting or are simply not used to the “new” way things are done in IT is, “What is the cloud?” This, I think, is something you get many different answers to depending on who you ask. I like to think of it this way: The cloud is a grouping of resources (compute, storage, network) that are available to be used in a manner that makes them both highly available and scalable, either up or down, as needed. If I have an issue with a resource, I need to be able to replace that resource quickly — and this is where containers come in. They are lightweight, can be started quickly, and allow us to focus a container on a single job. Containers are also replaceable. If I have a DB container, for instance, there can’t be anything about it that makes it “special” so that when it is replaced, I do not lose operational capability.

As your data needs continue to expand, it’s important to have a storage solution that’s both scalable and easy to manage. That’s particularly true when you’re managing common gateway resources like iSCSI that provide interfaces to storage pools built in Ceph. In this white paper, you’ll see how to use the SUSE Enterprise Storage openATTIC management console to create RADOS block devices (RBDs), pools and iSCSI interfaces for use with Linux, Windows and VMware systems.